Finding untapped growth in your digital marketing plan
Digital marketing is rapidly evolving alongside constant updates to search engine algorithms, consumer shifts and technological progress. The global digital advertising market is expected to grow from $178.29 billion in 2022 to $185.17 billion in 2023.
Is Email Marketing dead?
Not too long ago, email marketing was one of the main forms of digital marketing for many businesses, but now various platforms and ways to get a digital marketing message across exist.
Interview with James MacDonald, Digital Marketing Manager at Homechoice
Interview with James MacDonald, Digital Marketing Manager at Homechoice Describe yourself in 3 wordsGeeky, stubborn & relaxed. Tell us a bit about your journey the past few years working in the digital team at Homechoice? It has been an incredible journey of rapid learning, both personally and for the business. We had to adapt at a rapid rate when lockdown was announced, but we managed to pivot to serve our customers via digital channels quite successfully. Talk about a steep learning curve, but we are really proud of the digital transformation and how quickly we could accelerate our timeline. Digital transformation seems to be the buzz word these days – what does it mean for you in your current role? I used it above before reading this question! Most people just think it is about transforming a sales channel to be digitally enabled. At homechoice we rather use the term to mean how can we put technology first to service our customers through a truly omnichannel experience. Technology is rooted in that and how can we transform our systems to provide longevity as the rate of technological acceleration continues at a rapid pace. How do you and your team stay up to date with the ever-changing technology available to digital marketers nowadays? Fortunately, we have a great relationship with both Google & Meta who offer incredible resources and learning sessions to the broader community, but there are also a few special goodies that get shared with priority businesses like ours. There are also loads of great resources out on the internet, with a lot of them being free. It is remarkable how one can build skillsets across a range of verticals in the digital space without having to attend formal education. What sets Homechoice apart from other online homeware retailers? We really do provide a full offering that is customer focused. The last few years have been tough financially for many but our blend of truly quality products on our range of payment terms mean that we can help you create the home you love without breaking the bank. Everyone thinks a blanket is just a blanket until you touch our faux mink blankets – then you realize what luxury and warmth REALLY is. What were the biggest challenges Homechoice faced in going from a catalogue service to an online retailer? I think it was changing our mindset and adapting rapidly to the changing needs of our consumers. Customers loved receiving their catalogue every month and ordering via either calling in to the call centre, walking in to a showroom, or purchasing through our digital channels. Lockdown suddenly stripped those options away from them and we had to adapt just like our customers. Support used to largely be handled by a call as that was the easiest way for the customer to communicate a range of questions, but during the pandemic, we had to give them the same personalized attention, just through digital channels. This was new to the customers and ahead of our digital transformation roadmap, but we were really chuffed how quickly we could adapt and continue to serve our customers when we were one of the few businesses that could trade during level 5 lockdown to bring them their essentials like bedding & blankets during winter. Which digital channels have you found to be most effective in attracting new customers and building brand awareness? I can’t share all of our secrets, but I would advise digging into marketing automation through product feeds, email campaigns and dynamic remarketing. With digital, there are numerous new channels that help you reach certain audiences. The trick is to ensure that you have the correct objective per channel and have sufficient reporting to help you understand whether that channel is meeting your objectives or not. Sounds easy, but can be really challenging with privacy concerns, different attribution methods and ever-changing platform tweaks such as Performance Max from Google, and reduced audience segmentation from Facebook. You recently spoke at the Meta VC Acceleration program webinar. Can you tell us a bit about that? It was really fun to showcase some of the results that we have achieved working with Meta as an In-Market client. This means that we are one of their priority customers and work very closely with a very talented team to help us succeed on the various Meta platforms. It was nice to show new businesses that they can succeed if they find the right partners. Your favourite thing to do in Cape Town when you are not working? When you live in a beautiful city like Cape Town, it feels criminal not to take advantage of the incredible views on offer and if you can through in some exercise at the same time then even better. My favourite is to unwind on the weekend with a round of golf – have you seen how many picturesque courses we have in the Mother City? If only my golf was as good as the views… Follow Homechoice! Shop online: https://www.homechoice.co.za On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homechoice On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homechoice.co.za/?hl=en All CEO's Thoughts Interviews and Insights Industry News Interviews and Insights Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before 26 Oct 2022 Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before Despite current downturns in the economy, evidence shows that the e-commerce industry is picking up and going back to pre-pandemic… Read More CEO's Thoughts Never stop marketing 26 Oct 2022 Never stop marketing There’s a LOT going on in the world right now. This is not a political piece, yet it is diffiult to ignore the world-shaping events… Read More Interviews and Insights Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove 26 Oct 2022 Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove Our October profile is Sandra Jardim, mom to twins Gisela and Alaia and blogger/owner of MammaBearLove. She uses her blog as… Read More Prev123Next
Most common digital marketing mistakes
Most common digital marketing mistakes Digital Marketing, being the most evolving field, possesses significant challenges to marketers and businesses. If your business is currently failing to get the desired results in sales, lead conversions, traffic generation, and more, then it’s possible that mistakes are being made with your current digital marketing efforts. Here are some of the most common mistakes to avoid: When the focus (and optimization) is on channels as opposed to users. By focusing too much on the channel or trying to optimize for those channels, it takes the attention away from the user and the value you are providing them which will, in turn, become increasingly counterproductive. SMEs often spread themselves far too thin. Don’t get distracted by shiny new platforms and tools. The reality is that many small businesses and a portion of big brands aren’t delivering on the basics of digital marketing. For most SMEs the majority of their business growth still comes from the foundational tools in digital marketing: social media, digital ads, email marketing and SEO. So get that right first. Lacking realistic and measurable goals. If you don’t have clearly outlined goals, then you don’t know what results you hope to achieve. How will you know if you have reached your goals if you haven’t outlined what that looks like? Start by creating SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. Ignoring competition. The online platform is full of competition, and you need to stay very active to stay ahead of your competitors. Anyone who is ignoring the competition is making a big mistake. You need to analyze the performance of your competitors and their marketing strategies. If you want to make a smart move, you need to be smarter than your rivals. For this, you need to be well-updated about their strategies and methods. Not doing retargeting. Your online customers have a lot of options in front of them. So, if you want to be in their mind at the time of purchase, you need to focus on retargeting. With effective email marketing activities and bulk SMS services, you can quickly inform your audience about your latest products and offers. They are the most effective retargeting methods adopted by digital marketing experts to increase sales volume. Buying followers. There are ways to increase your followers without buying them. Buying them is a huge mistake you can make since followers that are bought don’t interact with your page. It can also get expensive, and you don’t always see the return you hope to see. Instead look at hosting giveaways and contests, running ads and campaigns and using the right hashtags. Be sure to engage with people on your page by creating engaging and relevant content. Believing email marketing is dead. With the improvement of technology over the years, many people are under the impression that email marketing isn’t effective any more – but they couldn’t be any more wrong. In a matter of seconds, marketers have the ability to find out the best times to send emails in order to increase open rates, what subject lines should be used, and what to expect from each email. The future of email marketing is something no marketer should avoid. So don’t underestimate its potential. All CEO's Thoughts Interviews and Insights Industry News Interviews and Insights Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before 26 Oct 2022 Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before Despite current downturns in the economy, evidence shows that the e-commerce industry is picking up and going back to pre-pandemic… Read More CEO's Thoughts Never stop marketing 26 Oct 2022 Never stop marketing There’s a LOT going on in the world right now. This is not a political piece, yet it is diffiult to ignore the world-shaping events… Read More Interviews and Insights Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove 26 Oct 2022 Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove Our October profile is Sandra Jardim, mom to twins Gisela and Alaia and blogger/owner of MammaBearLove. She uses her blog as… Read More Prev123Next
Merchants, Publishers: Are you ready?
With exactly four weeks to Christmas, the end of another year is in sight, and most South Africans will be getting ready to take their annual holiday and get their gift shopping sorted. For some retailers, the holiday season can represent as much as 30 percent of annual sales with hobby, toy and game stores reporting the highest percentage. However, with the current dip in our economy, customers will be more selective than ever about where they spend their hard earned cash. Here are a few tips for optimising your site to attract more eyeballs this festive season. Beyond ensuring fast, efficient website performance, there are a few other things you should keep in mind when prepping your e-commerce website for increased holiday traffic. Display, display, display – Physical retail stores often set up special holiday displays during the shopping season. You can take a similar approach to your website. Dress up your digital channel just like you do your brick and mortar. But this doesn’t necessarily mean adding Christmas trees and flashing lights to your homepage. Update your content to be more upbeat, and tie offers of your products to festive dates like Christmas, New Years, Black Friday etc. and highlight why this product or offer will delight the customer. Check your site speed – Large photos and interactive elements could slow your site down significantly, meaning all your effort to make a gorgeous website could get wasted because the page doesn’t load in time for the consumer. Make sure your Web hosting solution has the necessary bandwidth and speed to support higher holiday traffic. Customer support – Holiday shoppers want a positive customer experience, so make your contact details easy to find on all pages of your website in case customers have questions about their orders. You may even want to consider adding temporary help to answer the additional calls, if you think you will need it. Security – With the increase in online activity, hackers are sitting ready to make the most of this opportunity. Educate your time on recognising cyber attacks and ensure you have a solution in place to deal with such an attack, should it occur. Make them laugh – the use of humor is a good way to stand out during a very competitive shopping season. JibJab allows visitors to personalize hilarious videos and send them to friends and family. Special offers & discounts – Make sure that your holiday offers are featured prominently on your home page and post post your special offers to your top social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Email marketing – It’s easy to get caught up in making sure your website is perfectly festive. However, remember that many customers won’t see it — unless you email them with a link and a good reason to return to your homepage. After all, your subscribers opted into your email list for a reason. Give back – remember that although your thoughts will be on the bottom line, this is the season of giving so give back to your customers. For instance, you could make a donation to a charitable organization or sponsor a company-wide day of service. Hope you find these ideas useful, and remember the AdMarula Team is here to assist you if you need help. Happy selling! The Publisher Team
Publishers carefully optimistic
It has certainly been a tough few months, particularly for publishers. With advertisers slashing budgets and consumers clinging onto their pennies, publishers have had to be creative in order to survive. But every dark cloud has a silver lining, and these challenging times also present opportunities for publishers who are adaptable and resourceful. Reward and loyalty sites, as well as discounts and coupon sites are likely to lead the race in recovery. According to a recent survey by Rakuten Advertising, 44% of publishers are expecting traffic levels for the 2020 peak shopping period to exceed pre-COVID-19 levels. The survey (which included 150,000 publishers globally), revealed that publishers are continuing to support advertisers during these times with 72% not having made changes to the cost of placements and inventory on their site since the start of the pandemic, keeping costs the same for affiliate advertisers. Many publishers have had to adapt their day-to-day operations by offering additional opportunities to advertisers for the same price or better commission rates, and the creation of new inventory and campaigns. Generally publishers are expecting commissions to stay the same over the peak season period, even though it was noted that advertisers are only committing to shorter campaign periods of 1-3 months at a time. Paid search, social and email marketing still accounts for the largest portion of traffic. So although there has been a notable rebound in consumer spending in recent months due to pent up demand, there is still some uncertainty about the road to recovery and advertisers and publishers alike are planning 2021 campaigns conservatively. So the term ‘carefully optimistic’ is perhaps the best way to describe current sentiment. One things is certain, next year will bring on a new host of challenges for the industry, which will require players on all sides of the spectrum to be flexible and adaptable. The Publisher Team